JEN GEROSO

A large part of my job is designing stationery, paper tableware, and gift collections for TJ Maxx. We were very excited to be adding Hello Kitty and Friends designs into our lineup.

Challenge: Sanrio provides a database of style guides that we can use for products. All vendors have access to this artwork, so how can we make our designs stand out among competitors?

The answer was to create my own style guides. By combining basic character poses and existing individual art elements like fruit and trees, I was able to create fresh collections that followed current trends. The slideshow below shows some the collections I created. The team over at Sanrio was very accommodating in this regard, and we were able to see many of these collections on the shelves at our local TJ Maxx stores.

Outcome: TJ Maxx had gone all in with Hello Kitty, which resulted in a bit of a social media frenzy. Our sales reports showed that our product was selling out in less than a week, which only increased the buyer’s demands for new designs. The photos below are social media posts I saw that featured our products.

As with all trends, the demand lessened over time but Hello Kitty remains a popular license!